They point to Amateur Radio as one of the leaders in adding junk to the space above, indicating we ignore rules and others don't enforce the rules.
I'm sorry, where does it state that? I may have missed something. In any case, genuine amateur radio CubeSats are the vast minority compared to university CubeSats and new commercial constellations.
There is, however, a task for us radio amateurs out there. Find your local CubeSat project and convince them to do something for us with their mission! Also, help them with the engineering involved, since there is a lot of non-operational junk out there which is a shame. Space junk is only junk when its not doing something useful.
There are many de-orbit demonstrator missions on the roll, so the community is working on the de-orbit issue. The article also misses the point that as secondary payload, you often do not have a choice over your orbit.
I would say, if its university, keep em below the ISS, if its anything build for longer service, shoot it up to 600km and higher, depending on the mission.
Wouter PA3WEG FUNcube radio designer Delfi-C3 radio designer